Union bosses endorse yes treaty vote

TWO leading figures in the trade union movement yesterday gave their backing to a yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty.

At the IMPACT trade union conference in Kilkenny yesterday, Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ general secretary David Begg and IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone both said the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is such an important part of the reform treaty, was too important to be missed out on.

Their backing for Lisbon comes just days before the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is due to consider its position on the treaty referendum next week and the position of two prominent leaders is guaranteed to affect the union’s stance.

Mr Begg said he could understand that many people within the trade union movement were disenchanted with the ‘European Project’.

“They regard the concept of social Europe as having been put on the back boiler at best or at worst sacrificed on the altar of neoliberalism,” he said.

“However, what is most important from a trade union point of view is the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It would be, in my view, a serious error of judgement to miss the opportunity to give legal effect to the charter.”

Mr McLoone said the charter was a prize that trade unions across Europe had pursued for many, many years and those unions would be amazed if the Irish unions were prepared to risk its rejection when it was finally within their grasp.

Meanwhile, Mr Begg voiced his concerns over the ongoing national pay talks. He referred to the rights of agency workers and the erosion of the value of pensions and the immediate need for a national pension scheme.

However, his main concerns surrounded the pay gap and the aspirations of the business sector to give ordinary workers little or no wage increases.

“There are many people in the ‘golden circle’ that has developed in the last few years. Taken in its broadest sense, the top 450 people have put deals together that have yielded capital gains between 2004 and 2007 of €41 billion. So there are a lot of people who are very well off. These people have made the decision that the way to deal with current financial difficulty is that the ordinary people of the country will carry this burden, 71% of whom earn less than €38,000 a year. I don’t think so, not this time.”